What opportunities are there beyond UWCSEA?

Mindfulness is an evidence-based approach in reducing stress and anxieties, and healing from the pains of life.

Pre-Conference
5-Day Mindfulness Retreat
W Singapore Ballroom, Sentosa Cove
~ attending via Zoom option is provided ~
6 -10 Aug 2020 (National Day weekend)

Any plans over the National Day weekend?

Attend a 5-Day Mindfulness Retreat at W Sentosa, with a discount if you are aged 50 and above, to take a journey into your own heart and mind – cultivating stillness of mind and body, looking deeply into the nature of your own experience.

They will weave together mindfulness meditation practice based on the four foundations of mindfulness, calming and insight, body-based energy and awareness practices. Over the days you will traverse a range of formal and informal mindfulness practices including sitting, walking, standing, lying down and guided movements, dialogue and inquiry. The emphasis in this retreat will be on bringing a fresh, kind, and spacious awareness to everything that arises – the full range of your human experience- fostering a seamless continuity of life and practice.

All mindfulness practice experience levels are welcome!

Entry into Sentosa and the resort car park are complimentary.

Retreat Programme

6 Aug
6:30pm – 9:30pm Opening Session

7 -10 Aug
7am – 9am Breakfast (for those staying at the hotel)
9am – 11:30am Morning session
11:30am – 1:30pm Lunch Break
1:30pm – 3:30pm Afternoon session
4:30pm – 6:30pm Closing session

Each session will comprise talks, mindfulness practices, Q&A

Retreat Leaders:
6 Aug – A/Prof Angie Chew and Dr Craig Hassed
7 Aug – A/ProfAngie Chew, Will Kabat-Zinn, Dr Craig Hassed and Dr Bob Stahl
8 – 10 Aug – A/Prof Angie Chew and Dr Craig Hassed

Dr Craig Hassed, Dr Bob Stahl and Will Kabat-Zinn will conduct via Zoom as they are unable to travel to Singapore.

Accommodation at W Singapore – Sentosa Cove (optional)
Each king or twin room can accommodate up to 2 persons with breakfast.
Your spouse/partner can join you to spend the evening together at the end of each day.

Skillsfuture credits can be used to pay for the retreat fees, not the accommodation.

Register for the 5-day Mindfulness Retreat here.

Singapore Mindfulness Conference 2020

Learn from physicians, neuroscientists and mindfulness experts from Harvard, Monash, Institute of Mental Health, Mindfulness in School Project, NUS, Duke-NUS, NHG, SingHealth speakers and more.

There are special workshops for educators, parents and healthcare workers.
For the full programme, click here.

Overview:
In the true spirit of inquiry, Kath has been working hard to develop an online workshop that will ensure teachers continue to have access to practical, professional learning that deepens understanding for classroom and online inquiry.

Duration:
4 x 2 hour + 1 x 1 hour interactive sessions with Kath over 2 consecutive days. Approximately 2 hours of viewing and reading during and following the workshop – in participant’s own time.

Platform and Resources:
Participants will connect through the ZOOM meetings platform. They will need a laptop, headphones / earbuds and a quiet space to be at, over the two days. All participants will be issued with a link to the course that will not be shareable with others. Participants will agree to use the video and sound function to enable full participation. The workshop will not be recorded.

A detailed booklet of Resource Material to accompany the workshop will be shared with participants.

Participants Quota:
In the interest of interactivity and deeper learning there will be a limit of 40 people per workshop.

Proposed Overview of the Workshop
Day 1

Session 1

The essence of inquiry

• What are our shared intentions for our learning?
• Tuning in to our thinking and understanding of inquiry-based learning
• How can we cultivate curiosity – for ourselves and our learners?
• What is the role of skills and dispositions in an inquiry-based classroom?

Session 2

The art of inquiry teaching

• What are the key practices used by inquiry teachers?
• How can they be used across the curriculum?
• What does this look like – in the classroom AND in an online setting?
• What does a typical inquiry lesson entail?

Independent inquiry tasks will be undertaken by participants prior to session 3 (day 2)

Day 2

Session 3

Designing for inquiry

• Reflecting and sharing following our independent learning tasks
• Types of inquiries – from spontaneous, planned ahead, personal and shared
• Using the cycle of inquiry to design extended units/inquiry journeys
• How does the model work?

Session 4

Digging deep into the cycle

• The phases of inquiry: what are they and what strategies can we use for each one?
• Developing an action plan for classroom/online teaching based on our learning.
• Reflection and close

Session 5 (1 hour)

Action and reflection

• Developing an action plan for classroom/online teaching based on our learning.

Reflection and close

Kath Murdoch
Kath Murdoch is an experienced teacher, author, university lecturer and popular consultant who has worked for many years in schools throughout the world. With a focus on early childhood and primary education, she is widely respected as a leader in the field of inquiry based learning and integrative curriculum in which she has taught, researched and published for over 30 years.

Dates and Timings:

15th – 16th August 2020
ET 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm
PT 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

29th – 30th August 2020
London – 7:00 am to 9:00 am and 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Dubai – 10:00 am to 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Hong Kong – 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Cost:

• USD 400 Closing Date Till 15th July 2020
• Group Rate USD 300 For 4 Participants or more

What this includes:

Certificate of Participation for 12 Professional Development hours.

Please register here.

Emails:
shonal@chaptersinternational.com
admin@chaptersinternational.com
chaptersinternational@gmail.com

www.chaptersinternational.com
+91-9818362535

Agenda:

Day 1

Session 1 (Morning: 2hrs)

Foundations of Thinking

How does the brain work to make sense of reality, and what impact does this have on teaching & learning? During this engaging and interactive session, we will explore the often counter-intuitive foundations of thinking, the power of stories to drive perception, the role errors play in comprehension, and consider how these three concepts tie together to drive student learning. Buckle in – here’s where things get real!

Session 2 (Afternoon: 2hrs)

Principles of Learning – Pt. 1

Can students listen to music while they study? Are hard-copy or digital books better for learning? What’s the one key to forming deep, lasting memories? During this session, we will explore six principles of human learning and consider how each can be adapted for teaching practices. Drawn from brain, behavioural, and educational research, these principles are learning ‘nuggets’ that can shine a light on more traditional classroom practices.

End Day 1 Homework:

Participants will each receive a chapter outlining an additional learning principle. They will be asked to prepare several responses to questions posed.

Day 2

Session 3 (Morning: 2hrs)

Principles of Learning – Pt. 2

During this session, we will explore six additional principles of human learning and consider how each can be adapted for teaching practices. Participants will have read about one of the principles for homework and will be asked to respond to several questions exploring how they see the principle reflected in their practice.

Session 4 (Afternoon: 2hrs)

Turning Science into Strategies

Despite decades of effort trying to marry scientific insights with classroom practice, very little (if anything) has changed in education. During this compelling and interactive session, we will explore why laboratory research has not impacted teacher practice, consider what is required in order to translate research for the classroom, and dive deeply into several concrete examples of this process in action. Enlightening and empowering, this session puts the teacher back in the driver’s seat!

End Day 2 Homework:

Participants will be asked to undertake a pre-made Micro Project at some point over the ensuing weeks. Support and feedback will be offered.

2-Days Post (15min) Short video review of learned material (sent via e-mail)
5-Days Post (15min) Short guided recall session (sent via e-mail)

Session 5 (1hr) – 14 Days Post Session 4

Micro-Project Follow-Up

Two weeks after our final lesson, we will reconvene to discuss our thoughts and reflections concerning micro-projects. In addition, we will consider how to continue pushing this work forward and address any additional thoughts/questions arising in the intervening weeks.

Includes: certificate of participation for 12 professional development hours

Timings:

18th – 19th August 2020
ET 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm
PT 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm

12th – 13th September 2020
London – 7:00 am to 9:00 am and 11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Dubai – 10:00 am to 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Hong Kong – 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Cost:

• USD 350 (closing date 15 Jul 2020)
• USD 250 (group rate for 5 participants or more)

Please register here.

Jared Cooney Horvath

Jared Cooney Horvath (PhD, MEd) is a neuroscientist, educator, and author of the best-selling book Stop Talking, Start Influencing: 12 Insights from Brain Science to Make Your Message Stick. He has conducted research and lectured at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, the University of Melbourne, and over 200 schools internationally. Jared has published 5 books, over 40 research articles, and his work has been featured in numerous popular publications, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, and WiRED. He currently serves as Director of LME Global: a team dedicated to bringing the latest brain and behavioural research to teachers, students, and parents alike.

Emails:
shonal@chaptersinternational. com
admin@chaptersinternational. com
chaptersinternational@gmail. com

www.chaptersinternational.com
+91-9818362535

Overview:
In this two-day workshop, we will acknowledge, navigate and reflect on the circumstances and changes that Covid-19 had across the globe, that impacted on our ways of living, being and educating. As the coronavirus moved across the world and perhaps, as predicted will move back again in time, it has made us all stop and re-consider relations, matter and situations of learning a new. It is potentially, one of the most significant times in our human history that has affected, in traversal ways our human transformation in and with the world itself.

In education, as the virus claimed our cities, communities and homes, we moved from relational, face to face teaching to digital and online platforms in the space of days. Some of us were perhaps move prepared than others in how flexible, adaptable and resourceful we were in this most fast moving and complex of situations. In a world of early childhood where often the use of digital technologies and screen time were not valued or were considered as harmful for learning and play, we were now forced onto them, and encouraging their use in a flip. Our values and ways of working metamorphosing in different directions as our lockdown lives were experienced.

Now, for many, we are coming slowly out of lockdown and all that it entails, whilst also planning in mind for new spikes and lockdowns in the future. Ensuring that we are all lock-down ready is at the front of many of our minds, especially those of us working with the youngest children who know that relationships are key, and that social distancing is hard! In our many different contexts across the globe will all be reacting in different ways and at different times, so what can we learn that can create more resilient, adaptable, creative and flexible approaches in the next year or so, in being together with children in more ‘blend-able’ ways?

In this workshop, there will be time to re-flect, to re-consider, to re-align, and to re-imagine the possibilities that you can build on to construct a road map for your classroom, containing your essential questions and a methodology to research in practice, what makes the difference to you and your children

Essential Questions to be explored and reflected upon include:

• How can we work together with families and build upon the authentic relationships and inquiries that we have seen arising in this context of blended learning? How can we, in our dialogues with families describe, talk and document children’s learning and discovery with each other?
• How can our digital pedagogy and practice be used to maximise creative and critical thinking in blended contexts of learning?
• How can we develop more reflective practices that are responsive to change and adaptable across contexts of home and school which involves the power of family engagement?
• How can we slow down the pace of learning to enable more complex and enriched learning? What can we let go of, and what needs to be transformed?

Agenda:
Session 1 – Two Hours – 30th August
Time: London 8:00 am | Dubai 11:00 am | Hong Kong 3:00 pm | Melbourne 5:00 pm

Working and participating with families, building upon authentic relationships, inquiries and conversations. Documenting learning, sharing learning, and developing a shared language of learning with families.

Session 2 – Two Hours – 30th August
Time: London 11:00 am | Dubai 2:00 pm | Hong Kong 6:00 pm | Melbourne 8:00 pm

Pedagogy in a digital world – what does this mean in early childhood contexts? Increasing and embracing opportunities for creativity and critical thinking with digital languages across home and school.

Gap Task
This will be set at the end of session 2. A roadmap for research for being lockdown aware and ready.

Session 3 – Two Hours – 6th September
Time: London 8:00 am | Dubai 11:00 am | Hong Kong 3:00 pm | Melbourne 5:00 pm

Given the possibility that we may be living with Covid-19 until will have a vaccine, what do we need to be aware of and responsive to during periods of further lock down and learning at home? Developing reflective, reflexive and responsive inquiry-based practices, that maximise the power of family engagement.

Session 4 – Two Hours – 6th September
Time: London 11:00 am | Dubai 2:00 pm | Hong Kong 6:00 pm | Melbourne 8:00 pm

Reflecting together on your envisioning for this new and changing terrain of teaching and learning together. A researchful route-map for your own personal learning as you begin your next academic year.

Cost:

• USD 400 Per Participant Closing Date 20th August 2020
• USD 300 each for a Group of 5 participants or more.

Please register here.

Debi Keyte-Hartlan
Debi Keyte-Hartland MA is an international consultant and artist educator with over 20 plus years of experience working in community settings including health, social and educational organizations primarily with a focus on early learning, the arts and inquiry. She has worked with schools in the UK, Singapore, China, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, Romania, Canada, Brazil and Senegal and she is passionate about creative, reflective and transdisciplinary approaches to learning that involve the thinking and interests of young children.

She is influenced by the schools, values and processes of The Reggio Emilia Approach® and also by systems thinking (Gregory Bateson) and design thinking approaches. During her masters, she researched the creative and communicative approaches that young children displayed in their drawing and graphicacy and the ways of transforming pedagogy and practice to be attuned to their processes and also to create richer experiences for children.

She is an associate MA lecturer with CREC (Centre for Research for Early Childhood) with Birmingham City University, in the UK on the subject of Creativity and the Arts in Early Childhood and an Associate Consultant for Early Education (a UK national charity) supporting early years educators with training, resources and professional networks.

She encountered the work of Loris Malaguzzi more than 20 years ago and it has since served as a pillar of inspiration and ethical reference that continually transforms and shapes her work with children and their educators, family and community. She is a Director of Sightlines Initiative the UK national reference point for the educational project of Reggio Emilia, Italy, supporting the development of the organization, its projects study tours, and its network of members.

Emails:
shonal@chaptersinternational. com
admin@chaptersinternational. com
chaptersinternational@gmail. com

www.chaptersinternational.com
+91-9818362535

Overview:

How do we recognize, support, and model inquiry-based instruction?

Meeting the goals in today’s in-person and virtual classrooms involves building students’ communication, collaboration, problem-solving, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Designing classrooms and online learning environments around these goals requires teachers to step back and allow for more student leadership and inquiry.

The same can be said for school leaders. Our teachers will more easily transfer these skills when they see inquiry successfully practiced at the leadership level. But what does that look like? What does it mean to step back and allow teachers to ask questions and pursue answers to their questions? What might we give up and get back in return? TheLeading Inquiry workshop explores these questions, offers school leaders practical tools to embed inquiry in every part of their work, and models what’s possible in an online learning environment.

Agenda:

The Art of the Online Workshop

Like the students we serve, adult learners have specific needs when it comes to acquiring new knowledge and skills. This online workshop is designed to ensure that teachers and teacher leaders:

1. are taught in ways the brain learns best,
2. have time to practice as authentically as possible,
3. see the immediate application to their work,
4. leave with a plan of action, and
5. feel supported by a community of professionals.

Using the same “inquiry five” framework shared with teachers as they deepen their inquiry practice in classrooms, the trainer will use the following five strategies for leaders to reflect upon and use in their instructional leadership practice:

Day One (Three hours with 15-min. break and take-home assignment):
#1 Get Personal: Is your school emotionally safe enough for teachers to ask questions, innovate, and receive / integrate feedback on their teaching?

• Impromptu Networking
• Inquiry Self-Survey

#2 Stay Curious: What are you still curious about?

• Consultancy Protocols (Troika)

Day Two (Two hours with a 15-min. break):
#3 Ask More; Talk Less: What is the role of listening in leadership? What questions are you asking? Are your questions achieving the desired effects?

• Appreciative Inquiry (Heard, Seen, Respected)
• The Question Formulation Technique for Leaders

Day Three (Three hours with a 15-min. break):
#4 Encourage Evidence: How well do you conduct due diligence, share research, and maintain transparency?

• What are we looking for in inquiry-based classrooms?
• Setting up faculty-driven feedback loops

#5 Extend Thinking Time: Do you protect time for your teachers to reflect, collaborate, discuss, and integrate new information?

• Rethinking the staff meeting
• Spiral Journaling

Potential Audience:

Heads of Schools, Principals, IB Coordinators, Instructional Coaches, PLC Facilitators

Includes: certificate of participation for 12 professional development hours

Timings:

12th, 19th, 26th September 2020
10:00 am Melbourne Time
8:00 am Hong Kong Time

11th, 18th and 25th September 2020
5:00 pm San Francisco Time
8:00 pm EST

Cost:

• USD 400 per participant (closing date 15 Aug 2020)
• USD 300 per participant (group rate for 4 or more participants)

Please register here.

Kimberly L. Mitchell

Kimberly, author of Experience Inquiry, is an internationally-recognized speaker on student-driven learning and inquiry-based instruction. Her workshops and videos are well-known throughout the international school community, and she is praised for her “accessible, engaging, and practical” approach to inquiry.

In addition to her work with her inquiry consultancy, Inquiry Partners, Kimberly teaches undergraduates at the University of Washington’s College of Education in Seattle, USA. Kimberly has experience at all levels of educational leadership and grade levels. She is a former teacher, principal, senior program officer at the Gates Foundation, and director for Teach for All in Argentina.

Kimberly is the former Chair of the International Baccalaureate Americas Regional Council and currently serves on the Board of Teach For America Washington. Kimberly received her BA in History and Philosophy from Skidmore College and her MA in Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University.

Emails:
shonal@chaptersinternational. com
admin@chaptersinternational. com
chaptersinternational@gmail. com

www.chaptersinternational.com
+91-9818362535

Overview:

In the classroom, seamlessly providing students with timely and effective feedback is an integral part of how we teach. We use our body language, our voices, and our proximity to our students to give in-the-moment acknowledgement and connection. We give and receive feedback from our students to inform how we can best meet their needs, to correct and clarify mistakes and misunderstandings. And we recognize that “feedback” means so much more than writing comments. But many of the strategies and tools we rely on in everyday teaching are less available to us in an online learning scenario. So, how do we shift the purpose and approaches of how we give feedback to make it meaningful and manageable during remote learning?

This 10 hour semi-synchronous course provides a balance of informative reading and video materials, asynchronous tasks, reflection and personalised support that prepare you for four weekly live, collaborative group video sessions to guide you through addressing these questions and shifting your thinking and practice about what effective feedback means when we are using technology.

Guiding Questions:

• What new challenges and opportunities in giving effective feedback are presented by this new learning context?
• How can we create a balance of quality vs quantity in the feedback we give and seek?
• What can we learn from leading research about feedback that can be applied in our new context, to make comment writing meaningful and manageable?
• What different purposes can feedback fulfil, and what forms can it take in online learning (the AC3 dimensions of feedback – Acknowledge, Correct, Clarify, and Connect)
• How can I use a range of technology tools for each feedback dimension?
• What does “timely” really mean when it comes to feedback? When should feedback be immediate, versus delayed, and how can we best facilitate that online?
• What practices and ideas can I embed in my teaching immediately and in the medium-to-long term to develop my approach to using technology to facilitate feedback in the classroom and beyond?

Audience and Resources:
Educators and leaders from Early Years through Higher Education who are teaching, coaching, or leading during remote learning

During the course we will use a range of classroom technology tools and platforms to model and simulate learning, and giving or receiving feedback during remote learning including:

• Flipgrid
• Google Classroom
• Google Forms & Slides
• Padlet
• Mentimeter
• Zoom

This course begins one week before the first live video session to allow participants to engage with introductory materials and asynchronous tasks before going deeper with the course instructors and fellow participants. Participants will receive instructions to join the course digital classroom following completion of registration and should please do so by the official course start date to allow sufficient time to engage meaningfully with these resources.

Course Outlines:

Session 0.5
Key understandings:

1. Feedback can and should take different forms for different purposes
2. Effective feedback is communicated using a variety of purpose-based approaches

Session 1
Key understandings:

1. The challenges we face in giving feedback online invite us to adapt our approaches to fit our new context
2. We can apply our understanding of self-level feedback to acknowledge student work more manageably

Session 1.5
Key Understanding:

1. Feedback at the Task and Process levels can be used to correct student work and guide the learning process in purposeful ways.

Session 2
Key understandings:

1. We can use Task level feedback to Correct student mistakes in purposeful, manageable and timely ways..
2. We can use Process level feedback to Clarify student misunderstandings through mini-lessons

Session 2.5
Key Understanding:

1. Feedback at the Self-Regulation level is designed to help students learn to self-assess and take control of their own learning

Session 3
Key understandings:

1. Comments are one approach to communicating feedback that is best suited to enhancing and supporting deeper learning
2. Well-constructed comments can promote deeper reflection and growth through feeding back and feeding forward

Session 3.5
Key Understanding:

1. We can apply our learning about feedback levels and questions to construct effective feedback comments
2. We can make purpose-based plans for future commenting routines and approaches

Session 4
Key understandings:

1. Feedback is a two-way communication process through which we make connections, clarify learning, and plan for future learning.
2. We can apply our new understandings about the feedback dimensions and modes of delivery to plan for more manageable, meaningful feedback

Date & Timings: 4 face-to-face sessions for 1.5 hours each

12th, 19th, 26th September & 3rd October 2020
London 10:00 am | CEST 11:00 am | DUBAI 1:00 pm | India 2.30 pm | HKT 5:00 pm | AEST 7:00 pm

Cost:

• USD 300 Per Participant Closing Date 20th July 2020
• Group Rate USD 250 Per Participant for a group of 4 or more

Includes:
Certificate of Participation will be issued for 12 Professional Development Hours

Register here.

Sarah Gilmore & Katierose Deos:

Sarah Gilmore and Katierose Deos are educators, education consultants and authors who work to support teachers and schools to embed and use technology holistically and sustainably in schools to achieve its true purpose in education: enhancing and supporting student learning. Based in the US and Germany respectively, Sarah and Katierose built on their experience of leading and developing their school’s approach to technology integration while collaborating as colleagues in an international IB PYP school, going on to found their professional development company – Intechgrate – and write their first book, ‘Integrating Technology: A School-Wide Framework to Enhance Learning’. Katierose and Sarah are passionate about concept – and inquiry-based education and work with teachers and leaders from around the world to support them in realizing a sustainable and purpose-based approach to integrating technology in the classroom and beyond

Emails:
shonal@chaptersinternational. com
admin@chaptersinternational. com
chaptersinternational@gmail. com

www.chaptersinternational.com
+91-9818362535

4 modules/5 synchronous hours

by Teacher Training Center Online

Please see here for more information, and register here.

by Teacher Leader Institutes Online

Please see here for more information, and register here.

Asynchronous /task-based

by Teacher Training Center Online

Please see here for more information, and register here.

by Teacher Leader Institutes Online

Please see here for more information and register here.

Learning Event: 4th D. I. Asia: Charting the Course: New Directions in Differentiation!

Dates: 30 Nov-1 Dec 2020 (Mon-Tue)

Venue: Resorts World Convention Centre, Sentosa, Singapore

Cost:

$680 (before GST) till 13 Sep 2020

$800 (before GST) from 14 Sep 2020

Hear from the leading international experts in Differentiation! This is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for educators and school leaders to enjoy in-depth strategy sessions and ready-to-use ideas for supporting ALL learners in the classroom!  Topics are tailored specifically to include the up-to-date educational trends and current issues.  Leading experts will provide hands-on examples of how to differentiate content, product and process, to address ALL learners.  Solutions to classroom challenges, including standards and assessment, motivation, management and more are coupled with the most practical and engaging approaches.

There is a NEW Speaker on board in the person of Dr. Lori Elliott who will speaking on the topic of Remote Learning/Online Instruction in view of the need to conduct home-based learning during COVID-19.

The Summit brings together teachers, principals, superintendents, administrators, coaches, and others to learn from dynamic individuals in the world of education. The Summit will also feature Charles Beaman, Melissa Dickson, Alex Kajitani, LeAnn Nickelsen and Kathy Perez.

Please visit www.diasia.academy for more information and registration.